Article: Caran d'Ache Ecridor and 849 Ballpoint Pens
Caran d'Ache Ecridor and 849 Ballpoint Pens
The silver pen in the back is a vintage Caran d'Ache Ecridor.
It has a simple design that imitates a pencil, with a solid weight and durability.
What's particularly noteworthy is its luxurious, quiet, and smooth clicking mechanism. It doesn't have the cheap feel often associated with retractable pens.
When I occasionally let people try it out during meetings, many are surprised by the incredibly smooth writing experience, unlike anything they've encountered before.
Based on the clip shape and engraving, this Ecridor appears to be an early model from around the 1970s-1980s. It has been in active use for about 50 years without any malfunctions.
In the foreground is its more popular model, the 849. For a fraction of the Ecridor's price, you can enjoy a similar writing experience and clicking sensation.
One of the main differences between the two is the clip shape.
While the Ecridor's clip base is fixed without protruding from any side of the barrel, the 849's clip base extends across five sides. Therefore, when attaching it to a Hasamu A4, the Ecridor slides in smoothly, but the 849's clip base catches a bit.
The 849's clip is positioned slightly lower than the Ecridor's, so when attached to a Hasamu A4, the top protrudes more, and the "SWISS MADE" logo on the top is prominent. It's a bit of a shame that the brand logo is hidden beneath the clip. The clip can also rub against your hand while writing, but having the top portion exposed is useful when pulling it out of a pen holder.
Although the 849's clip is longer, it fits perfectly into the Hasamu A4's pen holder.
The 849's clip is almost the same length as the pen holderFor the body, the Ecridor has a silver-plated, engraved brass body. The 849 has an aluminum body with a painted finish.
Brass has greater rigidity, a heavier feel, and a more luxurious writing experience. However, the 849 also has a moderate weight, and its thick material feel and paint texture are high quality.
Unlike ordinary pens, neither of these pens has a separate cap; the body is made from a single, solid piece. This design prevents looseness or wobbling.
The Ecridor's nib is thinly ground, creating a continuous and integrated feel with the body. (However, this is a characteristic of older models; current models have thicker nibs.) The 849's tip is carefully rounded. The pens are highly refined down to the smallest detail, leaving no room for imperfections.
The slender, sharp nib of the Ecridor and the rounded 849The reason I recommend these pens goes beyond just their design and functionality. The "Goliath" refill is also a significant factor.
What's amazing about this refill is its large ink capacity. It has an incredible writing distance of 8000m. Even with 2m of writing per day, you won't need to replace it for over 10 years. While replacement refills are expensive, the extremely low frequency of replacement makes them very cost-effective.
And the technology that supports that writing distance is also superb. The pen tip is made of tungsten carbide, which has twice the rigidity of steel. It boasts a Mohs hardness of 9, contributing to its long life. There are six grooves that feed ink to the ball, preventing skipping even after many years of use.
You can concentrate on writing without the stress of ink not flowing when you need it.
It comes in F (fine), M (medium), and B (broad) line widths, but I recommend the B core. Please experience its unbelievably smooth writing.
While the pen body itself is not inexpensive, when you consider that the price includes this Goliath refill, it's not overly expensive at all.
The only downside is that you cannot choose the thickness of the included refill. It would be desirable to have the option to purchase just the body at a lower price, allowing users to choose their preferred refill.
The Hasamu A4 is an analog tool for drawing by hand, getting direct feedback, and expanding ideas.
The feel of the pen is crucial to that analog sensation.
The Ecridor and 849 are the two most recommended pens for making the Hasamu A4 the ultimate analog tool.